“Bots aren’t hard, they’re frustrating” Helldivers 2 players say Automatons aren’t as fun as the Terminids

When it comes to the preferred faction in Helldivers 2, the Terminids overwhelmingly win based on player count. It seems that most players enjoy reenacting Starship Troopers rather than being rag-dolled by a rocket from a robot. This can mean that Automaton Major Orders often fail due to a lack of players taking part. But, that hasn’t been the case recently as Super Earth has really put a dent in the robot army’s defenses.

With more players jumping in to face the Automatons, they have had to learn a new style of playing, with it being more strategic and defensive rather than the run-and-gun style that is needed when fighting the Terminids. Although many have adapted to this new style, which is the only way to beat the robots, some Helldivers 2 players are struggling to not treat them like the Terminids.

U/Robin_Vale took to the Helldivers 2 sub-Reddit to discuss the differences between Automaton and Terminids missions, noting that, at least for some, the robots are more frustrating than difficult. As an Automaton main, I do agree with that, although I often say the same about Terminids so I suppose it depends on your preferred play style and experience during your time playing the game.

“There’s a clear division in the two fronts on a level that I don’t think is talked about, or not in depth. It seems a lot of people boil it down to bots shoot back therefore bots are harder,” they said. “If any of you remember what bots were like back when we were fighting for Malevelon, you remember the countless one-shots from rocket devs. Now that bots don’t just kill you instantly, you just get rag-dolled.”

They then broke down the current state of the Automatons, which especially applies to higher difficulties. This should only become more of an issue when Helldivers 2 gets the new level 10 difficulty with the Escalation of Freedom update on August 6th. To wrap up the post, they noted that the overwhelming amount of rockets is the main issue when facing the robots saying “Reduce the fire rate of rockets. Make them take longer between shots. The volume of rockets is the problem, slow them down some. The small bots are fine, they seem to take the same amount of time we do to load our launchers, but the rocket Devastators and Gunships need to slow down. The volleys they shoot are already dangerous enough, we should be given more time to retaliate. As for the Hulks, ironically I think they should be given a faster rate of fire, but make them also shoot in waves. The rocket Hulks have a secondary gun, so it’s not like they’re defenseless when they’re not sharpshooting with rockets, and Hulks should generally be stronger than Devastators anyways.”

Despite the play style being vastly different from Terminid missions, it is great to see more players try and learn how to defeat the Automatons, especially with the player count being much lower these days. With fewer players online, working together to ensure the Galactic War stays in Super Earth’s favor is more important than ever, and it will only continue to be important once The Illuminate finally makes its presence known. If you’re struggling to adapt to a new style, it could be as simple as optimizing your loadout, to help with this we highly recommend checking out our Helldivers 2 best weapons guide and best armor guide.